With Glowing Eyes
by EvilDoctor1
Summary: Part Two of the Midnight Sparkle saga. Twilight is now in possession of Pandora's magic, but it's having an unusual effect on her. Is she still Twilight Sparkle or is she becoming something else?
1. Chapter 1

**Previously on: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: The Midnight Sparkle Saga:** Trixie managed to acquire a book about an ancient mystical artifact known as Pandora's Ark, said to contain the magical power of an ancient unicorn wizard. Trixie set off to find it, but not without Twilight Sparkle and her friends discovering her plan. Twilight, with some effort, managed to track down and find the Ark in a cave in the western desert of San Palomino. At the last minute Trixie managed to reach the Ark and open it, only for the magic inside to suddenly enter Twilight instead which caused her eyes to mysteriously start to glow.

* * *

In Canterlot, the capital city of Equestria, an indigo coloured alicorn known to her subjects as Princess Luna enters the main throne room and approaches her elder sister, the pensive looking Princess Celestia. "There is nothing to report, all is quiet throughout Equestria." Luna spoke in measured even tones, "There is no sign of impending natural disaster, no sign of an impending attack by one of our enemies."

Celestia just sighed, seeming to take no comfort in the good news.

"Would you like me to order Captain Armour to raise the city shields as a precaution?" suggested Luna.

Celestia just shook her head no and sighed once again. Her gaze ventured to the corner prompting Luna to turn and look at the 18 foot giant standing in the shadows.

"I see he's back." observed Luna.

"He comes and he goes, and when he comes back the only explanation he gives is that there was something more important that required his attention elsewhere."

Luna walked up to the Watcher giving him a stern look, "Did you know that while I was exiled in the moon, he was constantly probing my thoughts?" This remark caused their unwanted observer to stir.

I WAS DOING MY DUTY, DESPITE THE UNPLEASANTNESS OF IT, NOTHING MORE. I TOOK NO PLEASURE OUT OF LISTENING TO THE CONSTANT WHINING FOR ONE THOUSAND YEARS ABOUT HOW HORRIBLE YOUR SISTER WAS, AND WHAT YOU PLANNED TO DO TO HER ONCE YOU WERE RELEASED FROM YOUR LUNAR PRISON. IF YOUR EGO HAD POSSESSED ITS OWN GRAVITY WELL, YOUR SELF-ABSORPTION WOULD HAVE CAUSED THE ENTIRE MOON TO COLLAPSE INTO A NEUTRON REMNANT. THERE WERE TIMES I CONSIDERED BREAKING MY VOW AND HURTLING THE MOON INTO THE SUN JUST SO IT CAN FINALLY END.

Luna was taken aback by the unexpected tirade. She hung her head and slowly walked out of the throne room.

Celestia reared on the Watcher angrily, "That was unnecessarily cruel!"

LET THAT BE A LESSON TO YOU PRINCESS CELESTIA: EVEN A SUPREMELY ADVANCED BEING FROM A RACE OF PACIFISTS CAN HAVE A BREAKING POINT.

* * *

Back in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle sat on an exam table waiting patiently for the doctor to finish writing in his chart. The doctor finally put his pen down and sighed, "Well I've run every test that I can think of. I have absolutely no idea what's causing your eyes to glow like that."

Twilight's eyes narrowed, "You weighed me, took my temperature, measured my blood pressure, tested my reflexes, looked in my ears and made me stick out my tongue and say 'Ahhh'. That's a total of six tests and not very informative ones at that."

"What do you want from me?" retorted the pony physician, "I'm just an old country doctor. I usually just handle things like the flu and the strangles. If you want more tests, I suggest you try going to the hospital."

Twilight crossed her fore legs and her face went into a pout, "I did that already, they said I had to be actually sick before they could admit me and run tests."

The doctor looked at her with a small amount of sympathy, "Well the only other I can do is send you out for blood tests," the doctor took out a medical form and quickly wrote on it, "and I can give you this." The doctor reached into a drawer and took out a lollipop.

Twilight looked at the lollipop with some disdain, "Do I look like a young foal?"

The doctor shrugged and started to put it back before Twilight stopped him, "I didn't say no."

* * *

With a lollipop in her mouth while magically folding the medical form and placing it into her book bag, Twilight walked out of the office into the waiting room where all her friends including Spike were sitting patiently.

"What?!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, "You get a lollipop? He never gives me a lollipop!"

Applejack turned to her and smiled, "That's because yer always pretendin' to be sick, sugar-cube."

Rarity noticed the sour look on Twilight's face, "Darling, what's the matter?"

Twilight sighed, "The doctor doesn't know what's causing my eyes to glow. Not that it's surprising, he barely examined me. The least he could have done was order a CAT scan."

Everyone looked at each other in confusion with Rarity speaking up, "Do you want me to get Opal to look at you?"

"Hmmm? No, not your cat, I'm talking about a CAT scan. It stands for computerized axial tomography. It's where you rotate x-ray imaging by computer control which allows you to create a three dimensional image…and I just realized it hasn't been invented yet." Twilight put a hoof to her face with the realization.

"You know darling, this might not be medical problem but a magical one. You should go see Princess Celestia about this; she might know something about why this is happening to you."

"What? And bother her about something so trivial? For all we know this is just a normal side effect of acquiring Pandora's magic."

"What about Zecora?" suggested Spike, "She was the one that had that gold medallion thing, she probably knows all about Pandora and her magic."

Twilight mulled the idea over, "I can't think of any good reason why not, she probably knows more about magic than anybody. I'll go see her first thing tomorrow morning. In the meantime, we should consider doing something happier. Our little adventure caused us to miss Fluttershy's birthday. I say we organize a belated party."

"Yes!" came Pinkie's rather excited exclamation.

"Oh, no, it's okay, what is done is done; I'll have another one next year. No need to put yourselves out." said Fluttershy rather meekly.

Pinkie moved face to face with the yellow pegasus, "This is me, Pinkie Pie, how do you think missing your birthday party is making me feel? Do you think I can wait a whole to year to organize your next birthday party? I'm having trouble waiting a whole minute to go and organize this birthday party. But I am waiting, because I'm here for you, to console you, and to convince you that you will be putting me out by _not_ letting me organize a party for you. So please, please, please…"

"Oh okay. I can never say no to you."

With Fluttershy's approval, Pinkie let out a squeal and raced out of the doctor's office.

Fluttershy turned to her smiling friends and said, "But all I want is a nice simple, small, quiet affair with….and I should have mentioned that before she left."

Her friends all nodded in agreement.


	2. Chapter 2

Early the next morning, Zecora was in deep meditation when she opened one eye, and then the other, and casually walked over to her door and opened it, and then casually walked back to her meditation spot without saying a word.

Twilight, with a look of surprise, stood at the doorway with one hoof raised as if she was about to knock on the now open door. She stepped inside and started to ask, "How…?"

Zecora, who was back in her meditation position with her eyes closed, answered before Twilight could get anymore of her words out, "I sensed your presence with my inner sight…." Zecora's eyes suddenly opened wide in shock and stared slack jawed at Twilight, "Goddesses! Why do your eyes produce such light?!" she exclaimed.

"We found the Ark but Trixie opened it and I somehow absorbed Pandora's magic."

Seeing Zecora, who is normally unflappable in the face of the unknown become, well, flapped, was completely disconcerting to Twilight.

"This is not good and this is not supposed to be! Pandora's light was to grant wisdom and magic ability! Your eyes suggest that your power is out of whack, magic will burn through you and control you will lack."

Twilight felt a little skeptical, "I feel fine though. In fact I've never felt better. My thoughts have never been clearer, and magic has become easier."

Now it was Zecora's turn to look a little skeptical, "The desires of magic is something that starts slow, but soon the hunger for it will grow. The feeling it gives you, you start to crave, until eventually you become its slave. Within you is a spark that burns twice as strong, but beware for it will also burn only half as long. What we need to do is test your magic, before it becomes something tragic."

Zecora pulled a book from her shelf, and quickly flipped to the page she wanted. She then proceeded to pull a clear crystal attached to a string from a hook on the wall and showed it to Twilight, "This crystal will allow us to test your power, but the preparations will take about an hour."

Twilight looked at the page in the book Zecora had opened up to, and then looked at the crystal, "Perhaps I can speed this up a bit." Twilight's horn glowed and soon magic enveloped the crystal slowly transforming it from clear to a dark opaque. "There, that should do it."

Zecora just nodded in agreement, looking a little shocked at what just transpired. She held the crystal close to Twilight's face and slowly it started to glow a green light that within a few seconds became an intense brilliance. Zecora drew back the crystal with a puzzled look on her face, which Twilight read with some concern.

"Is that bad?" she asked.

Zecora shook her head no, "You have more magic than I ever before seen, but the fact that your magic is stable is what turns it green. Had the crystal turned red you see, it would have meant that it's burning through thee."

"So does that mean you don't know why my eyes are glowing?"

"It's a deep mystery, of that there is no doubt. It will take some time for me to figure it out."

* * *

The next morning, Pinkie Pie bounded into the library full of excitement, made a huge leap while spreading confetti and streamers and landing with a flourish. Just as she was about to shout out something she realized she was all alone. After a brief look of disappointment, she looked at the stairs to the second floor causing her face to brighten once again. She bounded up the stairs, made a huge leap once she reached the second floor, spreading confetti and streamers, and landing with a flourish only to once again realize that she was alone except for Owlowiscious who was sleeping on his perch. He briefly opened one eye to see what the commotion was and promptly closed it again. Pinkie sighed, and with a more serious look, climbed to the third floor living quarters. This time she decided to look to see if anyone was there. Twilight's bed was empty but Spike was still asleep in his bed with the covers pulled up over him. Pinkie decided to stand over him staring at him until he woke up.

And wake up he did, with a loud scream, "Pinkie! What the…what are you doing?!"

"Hi Spike! I'm so glad you are awake! Where's Twilight?"

Spike let out a sound of displeasure before answering, "In bed, probably trying to ignore you, like I'm going to try to do."

"No she's not." Pinkie replied in a sing-song voice.

Spike sat up suddenly, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and looked at the bed. Sure enough the bed was made and empty of any Twilight. "Hmm, she must have got an early start on the day. So she must be downstairs."

"Nope." replied Pinkie, "She's not on the second floor, she's not on the first floor, she's not at Sugarcube Corner, she's not a the Carousel Boutique, she's not at Sweet Apple Acres, she's not at…"

"Okay, okay!" groused Spike as he got up, "She might be in the basement in her workshop. Have you checked there?"

"Workshop? Yecch, who would want to buy work? Now if it was a funshop…"

"Pinkie!" shouted Spike, "It's where she works on her gadgets. You've been there before. Now come, we'll go see if she's there."

"Okay Mr. Grumpypants, you really are not a morning dragon, are you?"

As Spike moved towards the stairs, he looked at Pinkie and growled, and as they headed down the stairs, he said under his breath, "Nopony can be a morning anything with you around."

They headed into the basement, and sure enough, there was Twilight working away at her workbench. Before they could talk to her they noticed something that gave them pause. In one corner of her lab was a large donut shaped machine with a table, or perhaps it was some sort of bed, in front of it.

Spike approached Twilight somewhat cautiously, "Oh hi Twilight. You're up early I see."

Twilight smiled, but didn't look up, "Hi Spike, hi Pinkie. I never went to bed." Twilight then looked up, thinking before looking at her friends, "In fact, I haven't slept since the train ride back to Ponyville."


	3. Chapter 3

Pinkie gave a look of concern, "But you need your sleep. Sleep is very important for cognitive and physical function as well as memory repair, and allows the body to expel waste matter not only from our muscles but from our neuron synapses as well. And then there are dreams, which may be a function of memory repair but they can also be a source of creativity and inspiration as well as sometimes being really fun! There have been studies that…"

"Yes Pinkie," interrupted Twilight, "I know all that already. The thing is that I am not fatigued in any way. Whatever it is that is happening to me seems to have eliminated my need for sleep. Of course the added benefit of it is I can now work on my projects around the clock."

"You used to do that before." said Spike remembering Twilight's many all-nighters she used to pull.

"Yes, but the point is that before I would do that to the point of exhaustion, which is not what is happening to me now."

Spike then pointed to the machine in the corner, "So what's that thing?"

"What that was originally supposed to be a CT scanner, but I realized that if I used magnetic resonance instead it would produce a more accurate picture of what is going on inside my head. However I soon realized that my own primitive computing apparatus will simply not be up to the task of making it work. I mean how in all of Equestria could I have ever thought that vacuum tubes were an ideal method of performing complex computations? Now this is where I have run into a bit of a problem. I can easily work out the necessary circuits and programming but trying to dope the silicon crystals with gallium is proving to be really fiddly work, and it's forcing me to think along different lines about what would be the best method of building these integrated circuits…and Spike, stop eating my silicon wafers."

Spike stopped mid chew with a surprised look on his face, "Mwa? Miim nom meeneen anymeem."

Twilight then looked at Pinkie who now had a look of utter confusion on her face, "You are here to remind me about Fluttershy's birthday party. Sorry that I have not gotten together sooner with you, but now that I no longer have the need for sleep, I am starting to lose track of time. Do not worry though; I will be there tonight to help you out with setting up for the party, and I will have a special trick for the party ready by then."

"Cool." Pinkie said with a broad smile, then the look of confusion returned, "Er, wait a minute, did I actually ask you about that first?"

"No, I caught a flash of it in your mind, and it reminded me about tonight."

Pinkie's eyes lit up metaphorically, "You mean you can read my mind?"

"Well not exactly. What I can see is…"

"Tell me what I'm thinking!" squealed Pinkie.

Twilight paused, showing a look of annoyance, and then concentrated on Pinkie, "Cupcakes."

"Okay that was too easy, I'm always thinking about cupcakes. Try again."

"Applejack. I really do not think that this…"

"Correct, try again."

"Mayor Mare."

"Yes…"

"Carousel Boutique…Cake twins….Forty-two….I am not saying that out loud…I do not even want to know what that is…Cherilee…Your family rock farm…Your fear that if you are not always on, ponies will not like you for who you are…"

The last response caused Pinkie to reel back in shock, before her face turned serious, "All correct except for the last one, I was thinking about my big sister Maud. I think I have had enough of this game and I should get back to working on Fluttershy's party. I will see you there before the party starts." With that Pinkie turned and walked up the stairs and out the door without her usual flamboyance.

Twilight's face remained impassive while Spike chided her, "I think that you might have upset her a little bit."

"Well I tried to warn her, but she kept pushing, and I ended up finding a deeper truth that she even hides from herself….and I TOLD you to stop eating MY SILICON WAFERS." Twilight's horn flared and a magical mallet construct appeared gently whacking Spike causing him to back away from the work bench with each hit.

"Okay…ow…okay…ow...I'm going…ow…."

* * *

That night the town hall was a buzz of activity. Lights could be seen flashing from the windows, blinking through various colour sequences to the thump-thump of the deep bass of a dance beat that could be distinctly heard, even felt, from a distance.

Fluttershy stood with Applejack outside the town hall, looking uncertain about going in. "I think I hear Twilight summoning us for some adventure in the Everfree Forest." said the meek yellow pegaus with the ever so slight tremor in her voice.

"Twilight is inside, sugar-cube. All yer friends are inside waitin' on th' birthday filly." said Applejack in a reassuring tone, before adding in a sing-song voice. "DJ Pon 3 is doin' th' music."

"She is a great DJ and I love her dance parties, but can I do this without having to be the centre of attention?"

"Well, it is yer birthday ther celebratin'. C'mon, ya know ya goin' to enjoy it."

"I know I'm going to enjoy being with friends. I know I'm going to enjoy getting presents. I know I'm going to enjoy dancing. I know I'm going to enjoy the food. By the way thank you for baking your delicious apple pies for tonight, I absolutely adore them."

Applejack smiled, "Aw shucks, 'twern't nuthin'."

"But every fibre of my being is screaming in terror right now."

A short laugh burst from Applejack's mouth before she could stifle it, and then she put a reassuring fore leg around Fluttershy before leading her into the hall.


	4. Chapter 4

Once they were inside the main hall they were immediately assaulted by the loud dance beat from the vinyl that DJ Pon 3 was spinning. The spot lights moved across the hall while changing colour to the beat of the music and occasionally strobe during a particularly fast section. It was easy to spot Twilight in all this as her eyes often ran counter to the movements of the lights. It seemed most of Ponyville was here. Most were dancing, but many were chatting with each other over a mug of punch or cider or hanging around the ou d'oeuvres and snacks table making small talk with a friend. The hall was festooned with streamers, and a large golden yellow banner hung at the back of the hall with pink and blue lettering saying "HAPPY (smudge)th BIRTHDAY, FLUTTERSHY!" For some reason the number that showed Fluttershy's age was completely smeared out. Nearby Ditzy Doo, a grey pegasus with a yellow mane and tail, and bubbles as a cutie mark, hovered while looking rather sheepish. Rainbow Dash was also hovering nearby giving Ditzy a death glare.

The hall was also filled with many different colour balloons and Fluttershy couldn't help but notice there was a bunch of strange shaped balloons circling the room. She flew up to take a closer at them and realized they were all in the shape of animals. Not just in the shape of animals, but they moved like animals. They hopped, stalked, pranced, slithered, flew, swam, or waddled one right after the other like they were in one continuous parade. There were rabbit balloons and bear balloons, racoons, fish, dragons, birds, beavers, tigers, snakes and manticores, and occasionally one of them would open up its mouth and let out a silent roar.

Fluttershy squealed in delight, completely enchanted by the animated balloons. Suddenly she felt someone grab her and start dragging her away.

"C'mon birthday girl, time to sit on your throne." said Dash as she dragged Fluttershy towards a chair that sat under the now slightly defaced banner. It was constructed to resemble a royal throne, painted the same golden yellow as the banner, but instead of some royal symbol at the top of the backrest there were butterflies that resembled Fluttershy's cutie mark.

"But I want to look at the balloons." protested Fluttershy.

"Plenty of time to do that later, now it's time for cake!" As Dash placed the now resigned Fluttershy on the throne, the dance music stopped and the lights in the hall returned to normal.

As the owners of Sugarcube Corner, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, entered the hall pushing a large birthday cake lit with candles towards Fluttershy, Rarity sauntered over to stand beside Twilight.

"You did a nice job on those balloon animals," said Rarity, "I'm glad you got the magic for them worked out. Fluttershy seemed to be quite taken by them."

"Thank you," replied Twilight, "it seems like such a childishly simple problem now. All animation spells work on the premise of trying to mimic the living entities as closely as possible which includes not just movement and look but behaviour as well. All I had to do was simplify it and delete any behaviour associated with the entity I was trying to replicate in balloon form."

Rarity tried to keep a neutral face, but she was bored by magic lectures as a young filly and she certainly didn't need them now. She decided to change the subject, "You look different."

"Ha. Ha."

"I'm not talking about your eyes. Your coat seems a shade darker and you look a bit taller."

Twilight looked at her with surprise and then looked at her coat with curiosity, "I cannot really see a difference. How can you tell?"

"Please, as a trained seamstress, I can easily spot such tiny differences. It's why I'm so good at what I do."

"Interesting." was Twilight's only response.

At that moment the giant birthday cake was placed in front of Fluttershy, Dash handed her an umbrella and ducked behind the throne chair. Fluttershy blew out the candles before sitting back and quickly opening the umbrella. At that moment, Pinkie Pie burst out of the cake, showering pieces of it everywhere while shouting, "Merry Hearth's Warming! No, that's not right." Pinkie then ducked back down before coming up again shouting, "Happy birthday!"

Fluttershy shook the cake pieces off of the umbrella before closing it and gave Pinkie a big appreciative smile.

Dash came out from her hiding place and yelled to the crowd, "Time for the presents!" to a chorus of cheers.

As many of the guests started towards the front with their presents, Twilight's voice could be heard above the din, "I would like to be first to give my gift to Fluttershy!"

The crowd parted as Twilight walked up. Fluttershy smiled sweetly and looked for a wrapped gift her glowing eyed friend might have on her but couldn't hide the look of confusion when she couldn't see one. Twilight paused, gave a reassuring smile and then her horn erupted in magic and Fluttershy closed her eyes as she could feel those tendrils of energy touch her mind. Then as quickly as it started, it was over. Fluttershy opened her eyes and looked around. Everything seemed to be still the same; there were no special gifts, no bunnies jumping out of hats, no dancing flowers, nothing that could be construed as a product of magical intervention. Fluttershy gave a look of utter bewilderment, "You know Twilight, as gifts go…" then Fluttershy's expression changed to one of realization. She let out a loud laugh, not one that was loud by Fluttershy's standards but one that was loud by most ponies' standards.

Fluttershy then flew quickly into the hall grabbed a balloon and flew down with it to a light blue unicorn who possessed a safety pin cutie mark. "Pop it!" she ordered. The unicorn shrugged and with his horn popped the balloon causing Fluttershy to squeal in delight. She flew back up, considered using one of the animated animal balloons, decided against it and retrieved another regular balloon and gave the blue unicorn the same request and once that was fulfilled the same squeal of delight escaped her lips.

Fluttershy then flew to Pinkie, "Say boo!"

Pinkie looked a perplexed, "Uhm, boo?"

"No, try to make it really scary!"

Pinkie raised her hoofs up high in a threatening manner and tried to make the scariest face she could and in a loud voice yelled, "BOO!"

Fluttershy laughed in absolute delight, "Yes! Again!"

Pinkie complied and Fluttershy giggled uncontrollably before flying off to another random pony and introducing herself.

Pinkie face was full of concern as she turned to Twilight and demanded, "What did you do to her?"


	5. Chapter 5

Twilight responded in an almost clinical fashion, "Fluttershy's portion of her brain known as the amygdala was over producing hormones that are responsible for the inducing of fear. I simply ended the production of those hormones. Essentially I took away her fear."

Applejack, Rarity, Dash, and Spike overheard Twilight's explanation as they came over to her and joined Pinkie in her concern as they pondered the implications of what just happened.

* * *

Inside of Fluttershy's metaphysical mind there was a control centre that contained four different metaphysical manifestations of her sub-conscious. There were yellow, green, red and blue versions of Fluttershy's physical self, sitting on chairs reading newspapers.

The green one, who was called Disgust, peered over her newspaper with a look of curiosity, "I wonder what happened to Fear?"

The others looked over their respective newspapers and could see that the control console was unattended. The yellow one, named Joy, leapt out of her seat and rushed towards the controls shouting, "Who cares?! We finally get to drive this thing!"

* * *

"I know what you are thinking," stated Twilight flatly, "and I can assure you that it is not at all like that."

Applejack pressed ahead anyway, "Changin' Fluttershy's personality in th' past hasn't worked out so well before."

"In the case of Discord, he inverted Fluttershy's personality, changing kindness into cruelty, which, of course is fed on by fear. In the case of Iron Will, what he taught Fluttershy was aggression, which is fed by fear as well, and since she was already producing a remarkable amount of fear inducing hormones, she became very aggressive. All I did was stop the fear. She is still every bit the Element of Kindness that she always was, that won't change. In fact I had originally planned on improving on her courage, but when I looked into her mind I discovered she already possessed a tremendous amount of courage and bravery. It's what allowed her to function with something that would cripple most other ponies. She is an extraordinary young mare, full of a great untapped potential."

At that moment Fluttershy flew over to Twilight shouting, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" and promptly gave her a long kiss on the lips before flying off to introduce herself to more of the town's citizens.

Twilight raised an eyebrow and said "Fascinating."

Spike looked at his wrapped present with a small amount of disappointment, "All I got her was a book."

* * *

The next morning after the party Spike awoke and headed downstairs in the library. He passed the second floor where Owlowiscious was sitting on his perch and was heading towards the stairs that led to the first floor when he heard a greeting.

"Good Morning, Spike."

Spike returned the greeting in kind, "Good Morning, Owlowiscious."

Spike continued down the stairs to the first floor when he stopped. Spike was having one of those moments where you realized that you've caught something out of the corner of your eye a minute earlier that was completely out of place, but you are not sure what exactly it was.

Spike slowly crept back up the stairs, poked his head above the stairwell and looked around the second floor. Everything seemed in place. All the books were in their proper spot, the furniture hadn't been moved, and Owlowiscious was sitting on his perch where he usually sleeps. His brain kept telling him that the focus of his inquiry should be the owl.

"Uhm, Owlowiscious? Is there something different about you?" asked Spike tentatively.

"Yes there is," replied the owl, "I can talk now."

Spike pondered it for a moment, "No, that's not it."

Owlowiscious sighed, "Yes it is. Twilight grew tired of trying to read my thoughts in an effort to communicate and decided it would be more efficient if I could talk."

Spike gave a confused look, "But I thought you could talk before?"

"No, I only hooted before. You just kept thinking I was saying 'who'."

"Really?"

"Yes. Of course now I can no long hoot, which means I can't talk to other owls."

"Can't you just say 'who'?"

Owlowiscious narrowed his eyes at Spike, "No, because that would come across as gibberish to other owls. It would be the same as if I said 'gaa gaa goo goo' to you. I mean it's no real great loss since we are pretty territorial, and we don't like the company of other owls. But still…"

"Was that all Twilight did to you?"

"I think she might have also increased my intelligence as well. I just realized that you've been misspelling my name these past couple of years."

* * *

Spike approached the workshop door with some trepidation wondering what fresh tartarus he was going to face. He slowly opened the door and tentatively walked down the stairs. The workshop had changed. It was now much more organized, brighter, cleaner even, with the walls now a smooth white and composed of a different material. In a corner a strange machine was working away on what Twilight had called 'integrated circuits'. Twilight, herself, was working on a large metal box on her workbench with each side possessing three large lights and each of the lights were coloured in descending order red, yellow, and green.

Twilight turned to Spike and said, "You know, I probably could create a three-headed dog to guard the workshop door if it would make you feel any better."

"Reading my mind now?"

Twilight just gave a head shrug before answering, "It is kind of hard not to notice the increase in your anxiety levels. I can assure you that I am still the same Twilight Sparkle, just a better version of me now. I am smarter and I possess greater magical ability but my only desire is to still help ponies and protect Equestria."

"Well at least you still have your sense of humour." said Spike who was still feeling far from reassured, and decided to change the subject, "What's that you are working on?"

Twilight gave a rare smile, "I call this a 'traffic light'. I could not help but notice how chaotic the main street in Ponyville can be. This will help regulate traffic, and keep ponies from bumping into each other. I figure if it works here, it would be very usefully in large cities like Manehatten and Fillydelphia."

Spike, without even fully understanding how it was supposed to work, already had questions why this was even necessary. He soon realized it would pointless to even argue the concept with Twilight let alone try to stop her project. He decided to just go along with it no matter what happens.

Twilight gave a slight smirk of satisfaction.


	6. Chapter 6

Fluttershy sped through the air over Ponyville squealing with delight. She made a loop-de-loop and then dived down low flying just over the head of Pinkie Pie while doing a barrel roll before gaining altitude again. Rainbow Dash chased after her pleading, "For Celestia's sake, slow down! Take it easy! Your wings won't be used to this!"

Pinkie gave a smile at Fluttershy's aerobatics but it soon faded as she gave a look of determination as she headed to her destination, an unassuming house near the town centre. She arrived at the door and looked around to see if anybody was watching and then with her back flat against the door opened it and snuck in trying not to raise any suspicion. Fortunately for her, everyone that witnessed this bizarre and obvious behaviour just assumed it was Pinkie being Pinkie.

Inside the house was a yellow pony with an indigo and pink mane and tail, and three wrapped candies as a cutie mark. The occupant let out a yell of surprise as she was startled by Pinkie's sudden appearance.

"I'm never going to get used to that." she muttered to herself.

"Hi, Sweetie Drops!" greeted Pinkie which was immediately returned as an angry glare. "Oops, sorry, I mean 'Bon-Bon'." she said, correcting herself while making hoof quotation marks in the air.

"Pinkie, you have to be more careful than that, you can never know who might be listening." said Sweetie, with a barely controlled anger.

"I made a Pinkie promise to keep your secret, didn't I? Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a…hey!" Pinkie had pulled a cupcake from somewhere and was about to finish her rhyme with the usual act of jamming the baked good in her eye when Sweetie suddenly swiped it and promptly ate it.

Between chews Sweetie answered Pinkie's astonished look, "What? I wasn't about to let a perfectly good cupcake go to waste." After a few more chews and a swallow she then added, "A little stale."

"Of course! That's why I use them for Pinkie promises."

After Sweetie was finished she gave Pinkie a serious look, "Why are you here? Hopefully it's not to feed me stale cupcakes."

Pinkie leaned in close and looked around to see if anyone was listening before whispering, "I need some spy equipment."

"And why would you think I would have spy equipment?" Sweetie whispered back.

"Because you're a spy."

Sweetie gave a little cough before answering, "I wasn't a spy, I was a monster hunter, and I also happen to be retired from that life. What kind of spy equipment are you looking for exactly?"

"Well I need a camera, binoculars, a tape recorder, and a pencil."

"A pencil?"

"Yes," replied Pinkie, "for writing observations in a notebook. Oh! And a notebook too!" she added.

Sweetie took a quick glance out her front window and then looked back at Pinkie, "Is this about Twilight and the glowy-eye thingy going on with her?"

Pinkie nodded but with a look of someone that felt like they were about to betray their best friend.

Sweetie continued to glance out her front window while she questioned Pinkie, "If you don't mind me asking, what is she doing that's got you so concerned?"

Pinkie didn't answer right away; she wanted to get her thoughts in order which was often a difficult challenge for her at the best of times. Pinkie gave a serious look and answered, "She changed Fluttershy, and she did it without asking her if she wanted it done. She changed her as if she was somehow broken and need to be fixed."

"Well it was supposed to be a birthday gift, and Fluttershy seemed very appreciative of it afterwards."

"I know, but what if Twilight thinks one of us needs fixing and tries to change us? I like the way I am, I don't want to be anypony else."

Sweetie nodded in understanding, "Is your Pinkie-sense telling you anything."

"Nope, nothing."

"Is it still working?"

Suddenly Pinkie's tail twitched causing her to quickly step sideways. Right after that a flower pot crashed to the ground at the spot that Pinkie had just been standing. Pinkie then replied without look at the flower pot, "Oh, yeah."

Sweetie looked angrily at the broken shards, scattered soil and tattered flower that now sat on her previously clean carpet, "Darn that Lyra. She is always giving me these potted flowers and then she puts them in these weird and dangerous spots. I never know when or where one is going to turn up."

Pinkie gave Sweetie an earnest look, "That explains so much."

Sweetie gave a look of puzzlement and then asked suddenly, "Does Twilight look different to you?"

"What?"

"Twilight; she's out there right now and she looks like she's installing something in the main intersection. Does she look different?" asked Sweetie, her head nodding in the direction of the front window.

Pinkie looked out the front window for the first time and saw Twilight installing the traffic light box on top of a tall pole in the middle of the street. Rarity and Applejack were out there talking to Twilight and she could tell from their facial expressions that they had misgivings about what she was doing. "Well her eyes are glowing."

Sweetie gave a look of annoyance, "I mean besides that."

"Oh, well her coat is a shade darker and she's about two inches taller and longer."

"I didn't notice that at the party last night."

"Honestly, I hadn't noticed it until you mentioned it just now." admitted Pinkie.

Sweetie gave a look of someone that just made up her mind. She went to her closet and pulled out a suitcase that had a gold horseshoe on the top. She placed her hoof on it, causing it to rotate ninety degrees and giving a noticeable 'click' indicating that the case was now unlocked. Sweetie opened the case revealing various pieces of surveillance equipment inside. She then turned to Pinkie and spoke, "Now I'm willing to let you have my stuff, but I want you to do something for me: I want you to keep me informed about anything you discover. I have still have some contacts who are agents with The River House who could analyze this information and present it to Princess Celestia if necessary."

Pinkie looked in the case and gave a sniff of disappointment, "I already own most of this stuff."

Sweetie gave her look of utter bewilderment. Pinkie seeing the reaction continued, "I was kinda expecting it to be, you know, more spy gadgety."

Sweetie slowly shook her head, "Pinkie, you watch way too many movies."


End file.
